


Just Stay Alive, That Would Be Enough

by PentaholicHamiltrash7



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: "fight me" Alexander Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler Fluff, Crossdressing, F/M, He just wants Alexander to be happy, Keep Hamilton out of trouble, Pure cinnamon roll Eliza, Secret Identity, Washingdad, as usual, it depends, might make this more than a one-shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 16:51:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10644042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PentaholicHamiltrash7/pseuds/PentaholicHamiltrash7
Summary: Alexander Hamilton is, if nothing else, impulsive. This quality gets him in trouble.Or it would, were it not for his impulse control - George Washington and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.Eliza gets worried and decides to go check on Alexander (read: make sure he's not doing anything detrimental to his existence) herself.P.S. I'm not good at summaries





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: If I were Lin-Manuel Miranda (or possessed that much genius), you'd never see me again. I'd be downtown (probably promoting a new show or something), get a nice Grammy yo, get out of high school tho (for real though, imagine how it would feel going real slow down the highway of life with no regrets) 
> 
> sorry I got distracted

Just Stay Alive, That Would Be Enough  
(Or, The Lengths a Woman Goes To to Keep Her Husband from Being Reckless™)

With every passing day of the war, Alexander feels closer and closer to victory. The troops he has been put in command of have survived and largely contributed to the fight against the British. Washington gives his seal of approval to most of Alexander's decisions (well, except for the whole Charles Lee situation, but that is an entirely different story), and his dear friends Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette fight by his side for the cause. However, with every passing day of the war, Alexander grows more and more longing and homesick for his beautiful wife Eliza. Letters don't do her graceful and loving presence justice, and he simply cannot wait to see her again.

Which is why he thinks the elements and worries of war have finally gotten to him, as it seems he might be hallucinating when he catches a glimpse of her sweet face among the troops within his command. It was quicker than the blink of an eye and went as soon as it came, but Alexander could have _sworn on his life_ he saw his Betsey mixed in with the other soldiers.

His mind had to be playing tricks on him, _right_? Elizabeth Schuyler was many things, but never a woman particularly interested in the bloody gore of combat. Past that, if her father or either of her sisters were to find out that she had come to war, chances were they would very literally kill her before enemy fire could (and of all her family, how would Eliza have gotten past _Angelica_? That is a feat considered impossible by many, Alexander included) so it could _never_ have been her, Hamilton rationalized (partially because it made sense, and mostly because he would not know what to do if something happened to his dear Betsey in war and he was powerless to stop it). Alexander shook off his thoughts on what he claimed as a figment of his imagination and went to find someone to give an order to.

* * *

Elijah Adams quietly filed in with the other soldiers, aiming to be as unnoticed and inconspicuous as possible. She didn't want to get caught by the wrong people who might find her out and would undoubtedly shame both her and her husband. He had worked far too hard in achieving his current rank, and to have it all be blown away by his wife would be an awful shame. She had decided to come join the cause shortly after her husband left for war, missing him terribly. She had not wanted to be a burden to him by constantly writing to check on him (possibly because she feared he would tire of her letters and move on to the next lucky lady, who would be out of her mind to turn him down, because her man was quite the charmer), so she took it upon herself to enlist and personally keep an eye on him.

  
Elijah made it to the wooden door of General Washington's quarters and knocked, making it rougher than her usual feminine, gentle tap. She was acting the man now; it was called for to be a little rough.

  
"Who is it?" came the General's kind and mellow voice through the door.

  
"General, it's me. Elijah," she answered, deepening her voice as best she could. She knew it was not enough.

  
"Oh. Come in, son," Washington answered from behind the door, swinging it open to let her in. The door closed behind her with a loud slam. She might have imagined this, but General Washington let out a breath of relief as well.

  
"Mrs. Hamilton, I apologize for referring to you as 'son,' but there may have been some ears around that need not hear such personal matters," Washington apologized.

  
"It is quite alright, General Washington. I have no qualms with it. You do as you feel that you must. If I may ask, is Alexander doing okay?" Eliza asked as she took a seat, fully interested in the General's observations.

  
The General had been kind enough to help Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton enlist under a false identity so she could keep an eye on Alexander and make sure he didn't do anything overly reckless or life-endangering. She had written to the general (a _confidential_ letter that, she hoped, had made its way past Alexander's perusal, but she could never be so sure) requesting this, and it was not easy, but she made it work. What was actually more difficult than getting Washington to agree had been getting _Angelica_ to agree and assist her in her endeavor...

  
...but Angelica's weakness for her pitiable puppy-dog eyes was one Eliza had no shame in exploiting for a good cause, and made it impossible to say no to her if she'd _**tried**_...

  
So Eliza had gotten up the nerve and done it, and she was here, in the middle of a war, for her Alexander. She had bound her chest, dressed in a standard-issue military uniform, tied her hair up and away under her standard-issue cap, and had dusted some charcoal on her face to attempt a vague semblance of a beard, which had seemed less silly when she'd been dressing.

  
"From what I see, he is faring well, although I think he may be missing you. You should visit him someti-" Washington was cut off by the opening of his door.

  
"Sir, did you wish to see me?" Hamilton asked as he entered Washington's quarters, almost oblivious to the individual in the chair across from Washington. _Well, this should be rather interesting,_ thought Eliza.

  
"Um, yes, son. Come in. I wanted to discuss our next strategy and what our next course of action should be. I'll need you to go get the other aides, but before you go, I want to introduce you to Mr. Elijah Adams. He is one of our newest recruits, and seems to be very... inspired by you, so I felt it only right that the two of you should meet," Washington said, a knowing grin starting to slip through his usually serious front.

  
More out of habit than curiosity, Hamilton sized this _Elijah_ fellow up fairly quickly: lean build, full and almost-young face, literally-less-than-one-percent facial hair, high cheekbones, long legs, dark hair under the standard issue cap he wore, probably better for stealth than open combat. And when he looked into the man's eyes, searching to see more than the physical in this man, how he would fare in the war based on his attitude, all he could see was the familiar, enchanting, beautiful, innocent, passionate eyes of his wife. Hamilton blinked a few times to make sure this was not his imagination deceiving him, but could not confirm whether or not it had, for the next time he looked up to meet the soldier's eyes, they were cast down meekly at the floor.

  
"Elijah Adams. It's a pleasure to meet you," Elijah said to Alexander once he regained composure, holding his hand out to shake.

Washington nodded his approval ever-so-slightly, and Alexander took Elijah's hand and gave it a strong shake...

...and time suddenly stops in the confines of Alex's mind and - by God he must be crazy, but this! - he would know that hand _anywhere_ , the way it had gently caressed his face as he and Eliza shared their first kiss under the moonlight at the winter's ball, the spark he felt every time he touched it, the softness of it something he had, in the earliest days of their marriage, marveled at and felt that his hard, work-worn hands never deserved to even hold, _this_ is his wife, his ever-beautiful Mrs. Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and he doesn't know how she got here, but _here she is_.

  
Everything about it clicked at once for Alexander: he _had_ seen her face among the other soldiers, those eyes, that hand, even the words said in greeting him - they were unmistakably the same words Eliza had said to him the first time they met. He would never forget.

"Elizabeth Schuyler. It's a pleasure to meet you."

  
All that had been substituted was a name. He didn't know whether to be furious that she was here in the middle of a dangerous war and _why wasn't she safe at home with her sisters_ or to kiss her senseless because _God_ , had he missed her. He settled for saying,

  
"If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, good sir, it will have been worth it."

(A small addition of words on his part due to the situation, but anyone privy to their words exchanged upon their first meeting could not deny the similarities by any stretches of the imagination.)

  
Eliza's eyes widened with recognition of the situation, and he knew that she knew that he knew that his wife was indeed behind this disguise.

  
"I'll be going, I still need to get the others. _Adieu a maintenant_ , General, Mister Adams," Hamilton said with a wink and a knowing smirk surely not aimed at a soldier who was most definitely not his wife, and he exited Washington's quarters to go find Laurens and Lafayette.

  
General Washington and Eliza looked at one another.

  
"He knows, sir."

  
"Yes, I gathered that much."


End file.
